“WOMEN'S PRISONS” AND “MEN'S PRISONS”: SHOULD PRISONERS BE CLASSIFIED BY SEX?

What are the differences between “women's prisons” and “men's prisons”? That question is answered in this article, which documents that many institutions “for” women do not provide services designed specially for women, or anyone else. Moreover, some women's prisons provide fewer vocational, recreational, and educational programs than do institutions “for” men. Given the growing literature on the disparity of services and on the relative deprivations faced by many women prisoners, the author questions whether segregation by sex should continue to be used as a major premise of prison classification systems.     

Utilized coefficient of friction during walking: static estimates exceed measured values

This study compared utilized coefficient of friction (COF) measured during nonslip pedestrian gait to estimated utilized COF values calculated using anthropometric (i.e., leg length) and stride characteristic data (i.e., impact angle, step length). Twenty healthy adults walked at slow, medium, and fast speeds with kinematic and kinetic data recorded simultaneously. Estimated and measured impact angle varied with walking speed, with greater angles evident with faster speeds (p < 0.001 and p < 0.05, respectively). The estimated impact angle was greater than the measured impact angle (p < 0.05). Estimated and measured peak utilized COF values varied with walking speed, with higher utilized COF values evident with faster speeds (p < 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Estimated utilized COF values were 86, 118, and 131% greater than measured peak utilized COF values for slow, medium, and fast speeds, respectively (p < 0.001). Higher estimated utilized COF values varied moderately with increased measured peak utilized COF values (r = 0.522; p < 0.001). These data suggest that impact angle and step length alone cannot be used to accurately assess the utilized COF on level walking surfaces.     

One-stop border posts and informal livelihoods in Busia,Kenya

‘One-stop border posts’ (OSBP) are being developed on East African trade corridors to support growth in cross-border trade in the region. This article presents a household survey examining the impact of the OSBP at Busia on the Kenya–Uganda border on the livelihoods of informal traders and workers. It finds positive effects through enhanced access to cross-border trade. However, it also finds negative effects, including reduced work opportunities for unskilled manual workers. Further research is needed into the long-term effects on the price and foreign exchange differentials which currently incentivise the informal trade, before the effects can be fully assessed.